Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Abby

Aunt Lori: Are you sure you don’t want to join me and my friend on our trip to Disneyland next week? airplane emoji castle emoji roller coaster emoji

Me: No, have fun! I have plenty to do here.

Aunt Lori: You need to leave the house more, Abby.

Me: I do leave the house.

Aunt Lori: I’m not talking about the grocery store or a drive-thru. Ever since you moved back home, you’ve been hiding most of the time. Won’t you talk to me? sad eye emoji

Me: I’m going to West and Emmy’s dinner. That’s out.

Aunt Lori: I guess that’s a start. Besides, Rafe should be there. He’s yummy to ogle. hearts for eyes emoji

Me: Please tell me you’re not going to ogle Rafe.

Aunt Lori: I’m older, not dead. And since I’m still waiting for my chance with that new guy, looking is all I have. Besides, Rafe is RAWR. overheated emoji Imagine him tackling you for the ball.

Me: He played soccer, not football.

Aunt Lori: It’s a fantasy. I can do whatever I want.

Me (typed but deleted): He’s my husband! Stop it! He’s mine and mine alone.

Me (actual reply instead): That’s my cue to leave. Tell your fantasies to your friend. heart emoji

E very time I walked into Starry Eyes Bakery, I looked around to see if anyone was staring at me or pointing or whispering. It was stupid, but I always worried that someone would learn about what had happened with Travis in San Jose and it’d spread like wildfire. Sure, most of the town would have my back. However, there were always assholes who loved nothing more than to make others feel like shit so they could feel better about themselves.

Then I spotted Amber’s blonde head behind the counter. She waved at me, and I forgot about everyone else. After finishing with her customer, the other woman working took over and Amber rushed toward me. “Abby!” As soon as she was next to me, she whispered, “Let’s go upstairs so we can talk.”

There was a small one-bedroom apartment above the bakery that had been rented out to a former employee for years. But she’d recently moved away, and Amber had finally convinced her parents to let her live there instead.

Although, to be honest, I was surprised that her dad and stepmom had agreed to it. They took advantage of her kindness and need to take care of everyone and instead spent all their time and energy on her younger brothers.

Once inside her apartment, Amber blurted, “What happened with you and Rafe?” She glanced at my hand and added, “Where’s your ring?”

Since I’d been here a couple times before, I headed toward the kitchen and grabbed a soda from the fridge. After opening it and sipping a little, I finally replied, “It’s complicated. Explaining it will take a while, so we’d better sit down.”

Amber plopped onto the couch, hugged a pillow to her chest, and said, “Start talking.”

I quickly recapped waking up married, my lack of memories, and my agreement to remain married to Rafe for a year. Once I finished, Amber frowned. “Wait, so it’s all for pretend?”

“Yes, and it’s a secret from everyone but you, me, and Rafe. If the truth leaks out, the press will have a field day and that’ll defeat the purpose of our year-long marriage—to protect the reputation of Rafe’s business.”

“Of course I won’t tell anyone.” She leaned forward. “But just promise me, Abby, that you aren’t doing this because of your childhood crush on Rafe. He’s not the same person he once was, and I don’t want to see you get your heart broken again.”

Ignoring the latter part, I replied, “I know Rafe’s not the same person. I barely notice he’s a guy at all.” Amber raised her blonde eyebrows, and I added, “Well, okay, he’s hot and I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t sleep with him. Just once, mind you. But men and trust and relationships aren’t for me.”

She took one of my hands and squeezed. “I wish you’d tell me more about the asshole who hurt you, Abby.”

I studied her brown eyes and hesitated. Amber was probably the person I knew the least out of the BFF Circle. Not because she wasn’t one of my dearest friends, far from it. After coming back from San Jose, she brought food and stayed every day until I finally ate something.

However, she was the quietest in the group, the peacekeeper, and probably had trouble being heard when there was Katie and, until recently, me, since I’d been loud as well.

I blurted, “I’m sorry, Amber.”

She frowned. “For what?”

“For probably steamrolling you more times than either of us could count.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She shrugged. “I enjoy watching you and the others argue with each other. I’m better than I was, but I’ll never be the outgoing personality or the center of attention. And you know what? That’s okay. It’s taken me dating Jay to realize that.”

I smiled. “I’m glad you found a guy who appreciates you.”

In other words, I was happy she’d finally gotten over my clueless brother Zach.

She cleared her throat. “Well, mostly. I don’t know if Jay is my forever, but I’m willing to see where it goes.” She gestured toward me. “But right now, we’re talking about you. What happened in San Jose, Abby? If I’m to help you and Rafe keep up your ruse, then I need to know as much as possible. I swear I won’t tell anyone.” She put up her pinky. “Pinky swear I won’t tell anyone.”

Smiling, I hooked my pinky around hers and shook. As kids, we’d done pinky swears all the time; they were extremely serious for us.

Once we both released each other, I sipped my soda again and sighed. “Well, here’s what happened…”

And I proceeded to tell her about falling for Travis, thinking we were in love and would get married, and his ultimate betrayals of announcing his engagement to someone else and later his blackmail.

By the end, Amber stood up, threw her pillow to the ground, and stomped on it. “I’m going to fucking kill that bastard.”

I blinked. “Um, what?”

She paced the room, gesticulating wildly. “How dare he! He’s probably taken advantage of other intern teachers before. Maybe I should look into it. If there’s a way to bring him down without using your name, then he would finally get what he deserves without hurting you.”

I also stood. “Now, now, I know you love true crime podcasts and like to do online research for stuff. But please, Amber, promise me you won’t do this. Rafe already said he’d take care of Travis, and no offense, but he has a lot more resources and contacts.”

“I won’t do anything to embarrass you, but I’ll quietly tap my own resources.”

“Amber…”

She took my hand. “Abby, trust me. I’m probably the most cautious person you know, right?” I nodded, and she added, “Maybe I can find something to help Rafe. But let me at least try.”

At the pleading look in her eye, I finally nodded. “Fine. But that, and my pretend marriage, needs to remain a secret from everyone, Amber. Even Katie and Emmy.”

“I know. Emmy is going to be the hardest, though.”

“I’ll eventually tell her, I promise. But until West and Rafe make some kind of truce, I don’t want this to ruin any progress Emmy has made with her brother.”

“I’ll help when I can. But Abby?”

“Yes?”

“Remember, you can talk to me anytime. Pretending for a year will be hard enough without having someone to vent to. No doubt Rafe will irritate you or make you mad at some point.”

I blinked. “Irritate me? What are you talking about?”

“Well, for example, Jay always leaves the toilet seat up. Or he seems to save his farts for right after he gets under the covers. That kind of stuff.”

“Well, if anything comes up, you’re my go-to. But only if you promise to vent to me, too.”

She bit her bottom lip and then nodded. “Okay. Although I try not to complain, if I can help it.”

“Everyone needs to complain sometimes, Amber. When it comes to best friends, it’s okay not to be perfect.”

After giving me a quick hug, she said, “Thanks, Abby. After so many years of trying to be perfect for my stepmother, it’s hard to change, but I’ll try.”

“Wait, I know your stepmother can be critical, but this sounds like more than that. What haven’t you told me?”

She shook her head. “Maybe later. If I don’t get back downstairs soon, Sofia will kill me. And given how she’s the reason I got into the true crime stuff, she’d get away with it too.”

Amber winked, and I laughed. But I mentally made a note to ask Amber about her stepmother later. Just imagining my friend suffering over the years and never saying anything made guilt swirl in my stomach.

I’ll do better. They’d all been there for me over the last year or so, and now it was my turn to step up.

The alarm on my phone went off, and I disabled it. “Well, that’s my cue to go, too. Rafe’s going to show me around the tutoring center.”

Amber hugged me harder this time, and I hugged her back. She said, “Good luck, Abby.”

She whispered something I didn’t quite catch, but it sounded like, “I hope it works out for you.”

Not wanting to think about fairy tales or Rafe being a man I could actually trust, I said my goodbyes, headed to my car, and drove to the old horse farm.